But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
THIS IS PAUL’S AFFIRMATION OF FAITH! OBVIOUSLY he is steadfast to his believe. He declares boldly that none of the things which he faces or will face moves him!
So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
IT IS WONDERFUL TO KNOW THAT the word of God does prevail over cities!
In our text the Blessed Holy Spirit pulls the curtain so we can see how Paul the Apostle subdued an entire city. This is the same way we can subdue any other city or circumstance in our lives. Continue reading So Mightly Mightly Grew The Word
For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
SO COMFORTING! DEEEPLY MOVING! VERY INSPIRATIONAL! It’s like a shot of divine Teflon!
With such a promise, how can we not boldly go where He sends?
Continue reading He Is With You
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
IT IS WORTHY OF NOTE HERE THAT WHEN PAUL MENTIONED the resurrection of the dead, that some of them began to mock. Continue reading The Resurrection of the Dead
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
MANY GET CONFUSED WHEN GOD LEADS THEM and things don’t work out well.
For many, that becomes a reason to be angry, bitter, frustrated, confused and for some jettison the faith. These ought not to be.
Here, in our chapter, God led the Apostle Paul and his team to Philippi to preach the gospel. And in the course of their ministry they were thrown into prison.
You must note that they were thoroughly beaten and battered and then put in stocks and finally incarcerated!
I really thought that if God is leading you, you will not encounter any problems?
There is no such thing in the Bible. That is utopia! It is wishful thinking! Not even in Michael Jackson’s Neverland, will you see that.
What is in the Bible is “though you go through the fire, it will not burn you; though you go through the waters, they will not overwhelm you.”
God never promised that everything will go well without challenges. He promised we will win despite the challenges!
When many Believers face challenges, they start whining. They think things will fall on their lap like ripe cherries! No my friend. We have an adversary, who is an outlaw! He is a criminal! Our job is to put him under our feet!
When Paul and Silas were beaten and put in prison, they did not whine, cry or blame God. They did not start asking God why He was letting them go through such trouble. Silas would have started blaming Paul. He would have said “Paul, are you sure you saw a vision? If you did, why are we in Philippi central jail and not in a Philippi Central hotel? Let’s just come out of this prison, I will go back to Jerusalem and stop this preaching business!”
Whining doesn’t help anybody. The key is to have a great attitude.
Every one faces night seasons in life. Some don’t wake up from it, while God causes the night to become day for others.
For Paul and Silas, at midnight, they prayed and sang praises! Alleluia!
I have had many night seasons, and I faced them singing! Many a night, I praised myself to sleep! That is the key!
Paul and Silas, in the midst of a city wide embarrassment, torture and disgrace, refused to lose their poise.
In the end, they triumphed. The gospel was respected in that city because of these two courageous men.
What has God told you? Whether it is working or not, maintain a good attitude of praise and thanksgiving. You will triumph! You will not be put to shame! God is for you! All things work together for your good!
If it doesn’t work out as you were told, He will grant you much more than you lost….restoration!
In God, we never lose!
Cheer up, the word is working for you!
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
READING OUR TEXT TODAY IS QUITE INTIMIDATING! OUR TEXT is describing Barnabas and Paul.
They are called men that have hazarded their lives for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
What a description!
Their lives have become a sure challenge to us.
They considered nothing too big not even their lives to give up for the cause of the Master.
In actual sense, that is the true test of our ultimate dedication to Him.
These men hazarded their lives. Many others hazard their families! Others hazarded their marriage.
In the natural, people hazard their lives for the love of country.
How much more for the cause of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us in order to redeem us from sin! And bring us to the glory of the Father!
We must know that there is nothing too big to give up for the cause of the gospel.
The Master said “he that loves his life will lose it; he that loses his life will gain it”.
He is offering us glory beyond human comprehension. We must be ready to hazard even our own lives for the cause of the Master. Therein lies our glory! By us this gospel must be preached to the very ends of the earth! Nothing should stop or make us relent in this glorious task!
The preaching of the gospel is the primary, number one, most important thing in the entire universe. Anything that is limiting you from actively participating in it is totally robbing you of your glory!
Any other pursuit is the pursuit of mere shadows. Such empty pursuits will lead to nothing but frustrations and lack of fulfillment despite earthly or worldly accomplishments!
Barnabas and Paul hazarded their lives for the cause of the Master. And here the Blessed Holy Spirit recognizes and eulogizes them!
May nothing be too dear to you, not even your life, for the Master’s cause!
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
MANY PEOPLE READ THIS PORTION OF THE scripture, and they say “oh Paul healed that man that was cripple!”
No, paul didn’t heal the man!
Paul preached the gospel, and the man heard and received the gospel. When he received the gospel, faith came into his spirit.
The bible says that Paul perceived that the man had faith to be made whole.
When paul perceived it, he said to the man to go ahead and stand up.
In other words, Paul was saying to the man, go ahead and release your faith by acting on it.
It was not paul that healed the man. It was the man’s faith that healed him. Paul only helped him act on his faith.
You see, you can have all the faith in the world to be made whole, but if you don’t act on it, it will never benefit you.
James said, faith without corresponding action is dead.
The dynamic power of faith is unleashed when we speak our faith and act on it.
Today, speak your faith. Today, act on your faith.
I say to you go ahead and stand up. Go ahead and sign the check. Go ahead and apply for the job. Go ahead and propose to that lady. Go ahead with the wedding plans. Go ahead and preach to that person.
Go ahead and lay hands. Go ahead and get pregnant, you will deliver safely!
Release your faith today!
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
THE GREATEST TRUTH IN THE WORLD IS THE FACT that God almighty is a good God!
Here we read these gracious and enlightening words; “who went about doing good”.
Jesus went about doing good because He was anointed by the Father to do good.
God is a good God! And Satan is bad!
God is absolutely good; satan is absolutely bad.
Every good and perfect gift comes from God. Every evil comes from satan.
God is always thinking good and planning good for us; Satan is always thinking evil and planning evil for people.
The goodness of God is far much more greater than the badness of Satan. The goodness of God will always swallow, overshadow, overcome, supplant and conquer the badness of Satan.
Today embrace and confess the goodness of God over your life.
Maintain the confession that God is good to you, regardless of what you see or hear.
Expect good in your life. Expect to see the goodness of God in the land of the living. Glorious things are spoken of you oh city of God.
God has made you a wonder to your generation!
Every plan of the wicked over your life has been overthrown by the goodness of God in your life! Alleluia!
God bless you richly!
Ps. I want to sincerely thank you all for the gracious, and kind words of blessings and beautiful wishes you sent to me yesterday.
I thank my beautiful and lovely wife, Gloria, and my wonderful children for praying with me and claiming more nations for the Master.
Thank you all dearly for the beautiful words, the gifts, and the prayers. I am truly amazed!
May your cups run over. May you be a thousand times more than you are now! In the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus.
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
MINISTERING TO THE LORD IS AN IMPORTANT part of our ministry as Believers.
Ministering to the Lord involves a time dedicated to focus on the Lord and just love on Him.
It is a special time dedicated to loving on the Lord, praising Him, worshiping Him, thanking Him, adoring Him.
During this time our attention is strictly on the Lord, not to make requests of Him but to minister to Him. At such times we just wait on the Lord in prayer of praise, dedication, consecration, worship and Thanksgiving. Such times are powerful times before the Lord.
Most people are used to always petitioning God during prayer but God also needs our romance. He needs our times of intimacy where we just love on Him.
Notice that as they ministered to the Lord. He spoke and gave them direction.
The time you spend Ministering to the Lord is not a waste. Rather it is a precious and valuable time seeded to the Lord to meet His need of intimacy with us.
And such times are amply rewarded by Him.
The Father needs time alone with you, just for you two to have some romantic time together.
Spend time TODAY and minister to the Lord. Clear all your schedule, forget your prayer requests, and your petitions. Today just love on Him. Minister to Him today. Make Him the object of your prayers, praise, worship and meditation. Lift up holy hands to Him. Confess His greatness. Think on His greatness. Every spare time you have, use it to minister to Him. Use your free time at work and minister to Him. He is expecting your romance today.
Today, Minister to the Lord.
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
TRAVAILING PRAYER IS PREVAILING PRAYER. Travailing prayer is ceaseless prayer.
Here Peter has been arrested by a despot. Before him, James was arrested and murdered.
The church was caught napping!
With Peter’s arrest, the sleeping giant woke up.
The church finally is awake, the result is that they PRAYED ENDLESSLY, CEASELESSLY until they saw what they were praying for……Peter!
Believers need to understand that they possess strange divine powers. They can move heaven to touch earth. Believers are not helpless. They are not comfortless. They are not weaklings. They are not earthlings. We are divine. We are powerful. We are great. We have a Comforter…..the Holy Spirit!
Every failure is because the Believers did not take advantage of who they are. Or they did not utilize the weapons available to them!
The church refused for Peter to die! What did they do? They prayed without ceasing!
An angel had to be released to go free Peter! Oh my!
What great miracles we will experience if only we will utilize the weapon of prayer…..ceaseless prayer!
Someone said that every failure in any believing (Christian) endeavor is a prayer failure. How so true!
People that pray are world changers! People that pray and never give up are change agents! They are the real movers and shakers of the world!
Bloody Mary, Queen of Scotland said of John Knox, “I fear his prayers more than I fear all the armies of England!”
John Knox subdued Scotland on his knees! Once he said to God in prayer “give me Scotland or I die!” He got Scotland!
He had learned the secret of prayer…. It must be fervent, earnest and ceaseless!
When the church prayed ceaselessly without giving up, Heaven had no rest, the powers of hell were broken, and Peter was set free!
Jesus said “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”
We must return to ceaseless travailing prayer.
We must not stop until our churches overflow, until miracles, signs and wonders are a normal occurrence in every church; until every tree is a forest; every member becomes a praise in the earth; until a little one becomes a thousand, a small one a strong nation.
We must take no rest and give God no rest until He establishes us and makes us a praise in the earth!
Prayer!!!!
To the ends of the earth!
God bless you richly with great grace and many blessings!
